What does the ACS Primary move to Tengah mean for students?

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Amelia Teng Education Correspondent

Feb 10, 2023 08:09 am

The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Thursday that Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) will be moving from its current Barker Road campus in Newton to Tengah in 2030, as part of a major effort by the school to be accessible to as many pupils as possible.

The school, to be located in the new town in the west of Singapore, will also accept girls from the same year for the first time.

Here are key questions answered about the move.

Q: How will the move affect students?

A: Existing students in ACS Primary will not affected. The school at Barker Road will continue to admit Primary 1 pupils for the time being. Only in 2030 will the school move to Tengah and begin with new Primary 1 pupils there that year.

Q: What happens to the Barker Road compound?

A: The school compound in Newton, which belongs to the Methodist Church and also houses students from the secondary school, will continue as is. Even after 2030, it will still take in new Primary 1 pupils, but only younger male siblings, if they have an older sibling studying there. This is to minimise disruptions and for the convenience of families of existing pupils.

This means that both ACS Primary school sites – at Barker Road and Tengah – will be run concurrently for a number of years.

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In 2033, the remaining pupils in ACS Primary at Barker Road will consolidate with ACS (Junior), which is at Winstedt Road, a six-minute drive away. This means the pupils will all be known as ACS (Junior) pupils, although they stay put at the Barker Road campus.

Eventually, the plan is for all ACS (Junior) pupils to move over to the Barker Road campus, tentatively in 2039. The ACS (Junior) premises at Winstedt Rd will be returned to the MOE.

Q: Will pupils from the relocated ACS Primary enjoy affiliation with the secondary schools in the ACS family?

A: Yes, they will. There is no change to the affiliation policies for now.

The girls in the co-ed ACS Primary in Tengah, however, will not get affiliation as ACS’ secondary schools are all-boys’ schools. They will also not get priority for admission to Methodist Girls’ School.

There are other co-ed schools with similar arrangements. Nanyang Primary School, which enrols both girls and boys, is affiliated to only Nanyang Girls’ High School.